Foiled Again

Pattern placement on you glass is something that should be thought out in many different ways.  We always want just the right sections of glass for each piece but we also want to be efficient in our cutting as well.  When we separate the pieces from the glass in the picture on the left we end up with an irregular piece of glass  that's not only difficult to store, but also likely to break as students flip through the glass in the bins.  If you position your pieces in a straight path along one side of the glass we end up with an easily stored and must sturdier rectangle of glass that will fit nicely into the glass rack.  Also remember to butt the straight edges of pattern pieces against the straight edges of the glass and against other straight cuts to help save time cutting and grinding.  Positioning you glass in a cluster in a corner is a no-no (picture on the left).  Positioning your pieces in as straight a line as possible gets you a gold star (picture on the right).













 
So let's start with Bonnie who completed her Large Dragon Suncatcher this week.  She wanted something child-appropriate which is to say, not very scarey.   I think she succeeded with this very storybook looking Dragon that can't help but bring a smile to a child's face, flames or not!

 

Janet completed her latest  Flower Hand Mirror both quickly and efficiently.  The nice soft curves are really what make this mirror so unique and Janet has the perfect touch for those curves.

 

And Brenda finished her final Transom Window piece.  I suspect that she's happy to have worked on these for the last time.  The good news is that she can now sit back and enjoy her handy work while thinking about how all of that work was worth it.

 

Mary Grace completed her Double Sunflower with a double border and I really love it.  The yellow border is different from the glass that she used for the sunflower but only in a subtle way.  Returning to the background blue was really the only logical choice there was in this color scheme and not only was it logical, but beautiful as well.

 

Rowena completed her latest Sunflower Lawn Ornament as well as a large Butterfly Suncatcher this week.  I've photographed them together and I think they'd look great as a single Lawn Ornament.  Something to think about for sure (Though perhaps with a smaller butterfly with angled wings.)

Bonnie also started her latest angel which started out as a suncatcher but which is now looking to become a window.   Next week Bonnie is going to ring a bell so this semi-Victorian styled Angel  can get its wings

 

Gale has her newest Window, a Louisiana Style Fleur De Lis,all cut out and basically ground.  She's done beautiful work on this and her curves flow nice and smoothly throughout.   For a second  project I'd say that Gale has more than gotten the hang of this.

  

Brenda also began work on this magnolia scene complete with VERY thin pieces.  It's a beautiful window that involves a lot of work, but as I always say, you get out of a window what you put into the window.

 

Becky S has her Bamboo and Panda Bear Window all tacked together and set about working on her double borders when she came into class. She went with a similar but untextured green glass for the thin, inner border and got that cut, ground and tacked. Next she cut a wider, clear border and will attach that and its green corners into place when she comes back in. With the front of this already essentially soldered I don't see Becky needing to work on this for very much longer.

  

 
Terry is working on a few magnolias of her own with an egret or two thrown in for some added style.  This window is already WELL underway and  I do believe that Terry has all of her glass cut out for this already.

  

Janet not only finished her flower hand mirror but also worked on the wispy white background glass for her Melon Window.  The center sections are cut and ground which leaves only the edge pieces to go.  Once they're tacked into place a final border will 'round' this project out.

 

 

Carol's latest Window takes her on another shape adventure--the Octagon.  She came in needing a border and I have to say that she made the perfect call for it in terms of color.  Then she got to see how you fit an octagon border perfectly.  It looked confusing while we were going through the motions but in the end I think that Carol completely understood what was going on.  And look-- it fits perfectly!

Sue worked on the second side of her feather themed window and has it all ground and ready for foil.  There's still the center flower section to grind but Sue took it home with her so perhaps it will return to class all ground when she comes back in.  We might see some background being cut or we might not.  We'll find out when Sue returns on Wednesday.

 

 

Linda L  is making excellent progress on her version of  the Wild Things Window having most of the crazy woman already ground and ready to be foiled.   The letters for the text will be cut out before the background so expect to see some wording on this window when Linda returns.

 

Mary Grace not only completed her Sunflower Window but she also started working on the Fruit Basket Window that she's been threatening to do for the past few months.  The glass she used for the bowl is a match to the tile in her kitchen and the fruit will be bright, colorful, and made from scraps of glass (which is always a good thing). 

 

Martha is yet another student who is also making a  Magnolia window which means that Magnolia's seem to be the flower to be making right now.  She's doing this as a round window and it's going to be wonderful as you can tell already.

 

Ann is making serious head way on her Flower Window and I do believe that nine out of ten of her flowers are ground.   I'm thinking that of she wraps and tacks them things will be more sturdy when she begins cutting and grinding her background pieces.

 

Myrt continued working on her outhouse window and has filled in the hole where the birdhouse goes with, of all things, a birdhouse!  She's working on the background scenery now and that means flowers,  Lots of tiny, little flowers!  But after those are cut it will be smooth sailing for Myrt since the rest of the pieces will be a nice, easy to manage size..

 

Rowena paused working  on her Baseball Window so we could make an adjustment or two on the design.  We've slimmed down the bat so that it more resembles a baseball bat rather than a softball bat.   And while this was going on Rowena cut out and began grinding this new Bee  Lawn Ornament.

 

 

Susan brought in  a window to be repaired and got the glass all set up for it.  Since it will have to be ordered she's started not one but two Sunflower Lawn Ornaments.  She's ready to start grinding the first of these and will most likely put one together when she returns.

 

And there you have it, everything that happened in our classes last week that we could print in a family oriented Blog.  ;-)

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks